General Mills is finally catching up with its Greek yogurt competitors by making its Yoplait Greek with the traditional straining method used by Chobani Inc. and ditching a thickening ingredient that rivals have criticized as “filler.”

Golden Valley-based General Mills next month will start shipping the new version of its Yoplait Greek yogurt that has undergone a total overhaul — ingredients, flavors, size of the cup — from its previous product, which failed to catch on with consumers and set Yoplait back in the race to capture more market share in the fast-growing Greek-yogurt segment.

“What we’re doing is an entire clean-slate approach to the brand,” Michael Harad, marketing director for Yoplait Greek, said Wednesday. “There’s nothing of what existed that will exist.”

The new Yoplait Greek will be made by straining the yogurt to remove the excess liquid whey, a process used by Chobani and Greece’s Fage SA, Greek yogurt brands that helped broadly introduce the product to U.S. consumers. The method gives Greek yogurt its distinct thick and creamy texture, while preserving the high protein content.

Yoplait Greek had previously achieved its thick texture using milk protein concentrate, which also adds protein. Chobani and its founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, have been vocal about criticizing the use of such thickening agents, which isn’t how traditional Greek yogurt is made and is a way to skimp by using less milk. Earlier this year, Chobani ran an online marketing campaign featuring slogans like, “Real is more filling, less filler.”

Harad said consumers have shown that they prefer the strained yogurt to the previous version they had. The company currently uses the straining process for Yoplait Greek 100, a 100-calorie cup of yogurt that has been a success so far, with sales expected to top $140 million in its first year.

“The marketplace is clearly looking for this process that Yoplait Greek 100 is made with today,” Harad said.

This is the second time that General Mills is going back to the drawing board on Yoplait Greek. In 2011, the company relaunched Yoplait Greek with fruit on the bottom of the cups, moving away from a blended version at the time, and pumped more advertising dollars behind it. But the move failed to help Yoplait gain ground in the Greek-yogurt segment.

Yoplait has made up some ground in the Greek-yogurt game, increasing its market share to roughly 9 percent this year from about 6 percent last year, according to a recent research report from investment bank Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Greek yogurt now makes up 43 percent of the overall $6.1 billion U.S. yogurt market, up from just 2 percent in 2007, and continues to grow rapidly. Chobani is the leader of the segment, having hit $1 billion in sales last year.

Yoplait’s lagging performance in Greek yogurt and consumers shifting away from its non-Greek yogurt has caused it to slip to No. 2 in the overall U.S. yogurt market to Dannon over the past few months. Yoplait’s sales were $1.35 billion in fiscal 2013, down from a peak of $1.5 billion in fiscal 2011. Investors have grown concerned that General Mills may not be able to totally recoup the lost business.

Chobani, as part of the July reset of the yogurt aisle at retailers, is also coming up with more blended Greek products to help it try to appeal to more mainstream customers, so it will continue to pose a stiff challenge to Yoplait.

Harad, while declining to provide figures, said General Mills plans to increase the amount it spends to market Greek yogurt.

General Mills also said Wednesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed 13 percent, helped by contributions from new businesses and strong sales overseas.

But its fiscal 2014 adjusted earnings forecast came in slightly below analysts’ estimates, and General Mills Inc. shares dipped slightly.

The company, whose products include Cheerios cereal and Nature Valley granola bars, earned $366.3 million, or 55 cents per share, for the period ended May 26. That’s up from $325.4 million, or 49 cents per share, a year ago.

Removing certain items, earnings were 53 cents per share. That matched the expectations of analysts polled by FactSet.

General Mills anticipates fiscal 2014 adjusted earnings of $2.87 to $2.90 per share. Analysts predict earnings of $2.93 per share.

Shares lost 23 cents to $48.10 Wednesday.

Associated Press reports were used in this story.

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